Category Archives: Marketing/Advertising/PR

Marketing, advertising and public relations

August 19, 2010 · 8:30 am

Burrito therapy

Yesterday was fun, reading everyone’s comments about the flavors of yore. Thanks for playing along.

I also appreciated the well wishes—online and off—for my sinus infection. I have to say, it’s been quite a miserable week. You’ve convinced me; I’ll try a Neti Pot.

I hadn’t mentioned that my son has been visiting for a few days this week. He too had a sinus and ear infection so, when he arrived, he was feeling as punk as I. We’ve been quite the pair, lying around listlessly, coughing and sniffling. I didn’t cook a single meal for him and we didn’t do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.

Yesterday, after two days of bland food and forced liquids, he knew what we both needed—Chipotle burritos.

There is no Chipotle within 90 miles of where he lives. We have 19 within a 10-mile radius; 20 when the new one opens in our little town this fall. Chipotle is about his favorite food. So when he’s visiting, he’s there, at least once.

I, on the other hand, never go unless I am with him. I like their food very much, but I find the ordering process a little intimidating. The menu is composed of inside terms and the line moves quickly. The people behind the counter are nice and efficient, but I still feel like a Soup Nazi customer as I bumble my way through all the choices when everyone else seems to have the process down to a science. For this reason, I order the one combo I’ve memorized – the Barbacoa Burrito Bowl, black beans, no rice, corn, lettuce and sour cream. I pass on the salsa because the descriptions are confusing and I am too timid to ask for help. It’s a little like ordering at Starbucks, where I need a glossary.

So usually, my son orders for me. Yesterday he brought back what he thought we needed for what ailed us. Plus a side of the world’s best guacamole and freshly made chips for good measure. He was dead on. Best of all, he saved me a great deal of anxiety.

The Chipotle website is tons of fun, I could hang out there all day. Bravo to their marketing team. It’s a great company with terrific food; there’s even an online order option. I just prefer not to venture into the restaurant alone.

Now on to buy a Neti Pot. Again with the choices.

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August 18, 2010 · 8:21 am

Feelin’ frutti

If I know one thing about my readers, it’s that they like walking down Memory Lane now and then. After two days of preaching about punctuation, let’s take a walk, shall we?

I’ve been sick for about a week with a debilitating sinus infection. If you’ve ever had one, you know it can cripple your brain and cloud your thinking. In fact, I think this one has cut off some neural pathways altogether and opened up some that have been dormant for decades.

Out of the blue yesterday, while struggling to remember something important, I remembered Funny Face instant flavored drink mix.

Who remembers Funny Face? To put in perspective how long ago it was on the market, the label brags about the drink being free of Cyclamate, an artificial sweetener that was banned around 1970 for causing cancer in rats. I recall at the time, imagining a rat drinking Funny Face through a tiny straw.

The makers of Funny Face were ahead of their time in giving the various flavors way-out names. In fact, some were later changed, likely for their political incorrectness. My friends and I assigned flavors to each other. Sadly, I was Freckle Face Strawberry. I guess that was better than Goofy Grape or Loud-Mouth Lime. Other flavors included Lefty Lemonade, Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry, Chinese Cherry (later renamed Choo-Choo Cherry), Injun Orange (later renamed Jolly Olly Orange), Captain Black Cherry, Rah! Rah! Root Beer, Pistol Pink Lemonade (huh?), Rudy Tutti Frutti and With-It Watermelon.

Just remembering the carefree days of Funny Face relieved my sinus pressure, at least temporarily.

Another flavor I crave from my childhood is Maypo hot cereal. I think they brought it back once, but I’m not sure it’s available any longer. As crummy as I feel today, I might just cry, “I want my Maypo!”

What flavors from your childhood would you give your eye teeth to taste just once more?

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August 14, 2010 · 8:30 am

Joint marketing

Since the beginning of this blog, I have wanted to tap into the intelligence and creativity of my readers by way of a contest. I just couldn’t think of the right topic. Until now.

I don’t want to get in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission or any other authority so I’ll be keeping the terms vague until I have a winner. The prize will be a surprise.

Here’s what got me thinking. A blog associated with Fast Company magazine recently ran a post entitled “Don’t Bogart That Name:  Medical Marijuana Trademarks,” which speculates about how companies hypothetically gaining approval to sell marijuana products would brand and market them. The speculation is based on the outcome of California’s Proposition 19 (“Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010”), to be put before voters this fall.

We know that product marketing is largely about branding. No doubt, lots of smart, clever people are already hard at work coming up with catchy brand names that will prompt Americans to ask their doctors about marijuana, should laws become relaxed. But we also know from the billions of dollars spent on drug advertising each year, it’s also all about product disclosure.

There is currently one branded cannabis-based drug on the market today, Marinol, that is approved for medicinal purposes, as medical marijuana has already been approved in several states.

The U.S. government and the makers of Marinol caution patients that the drug could cause, among other side effects: red eyes, weakness, sleepiness, elevated mood, sudden warm feeling, memory loss, anxiety, confusion, dizziness, unsteady walking, strange or unusual thoughts or “feeling like you are outside of your body.”

Here’s the contest.

Pretend Proposition 19 has been approved, regulations are in place for general use of marijuana and no judicial challenges are pending.

You are heading up the brand team for a company planning to get in on the action. What would be your 1. brand name, 2. tag line and 3. side effect disclosure statement?

Here’s an example to get you thinking.  “Cannibrex, the twice-daily treatment for excessive motivation. Caution:  Cannibrex can cause dry mouth, severe procrastination, uncontrollable laughter, lost train of thought or fear of the telephone. Tell your doctor if you have eaten a whole cherry pie, bag of semisweet chocolate chips, sleeve of stale saltine crackers or have considered dipping into the box of baking soda in your empty refrigerator.”

Please submit your entries via the Comments section by Wednesday, August 18th. Winner(s) will be announced later in the week.

Please remember Word Nymph doesn’t post on Sundays. She’ll be mulling prize ideas.

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July 20, 2010 · 7:53 am

Beware of age

Yesterday’s disappointing news from the Gulf of Mexico has had me fixed on a particular word, one that seldom appears in good news. 

Not long after it seemed the cap on BP’s spewing oil well was going to hold and finally begin to contain the massive spill, something troublesome was discovered—seepage.

Seepage is never good.  It’s unintentional.  It’s messy.  It often means something is going somewhere it’s not supposed to.  If seepage is in your story, chances are, you’re in trouble.  Just when the higher-ups at BP were looking forward to exhaling, along came seepage.  The last thing the poor citizens and businesses along the Gulf Coast want to hear is seepage.

Yesterday, for whatever reason, the word leapt off its prominent spot on the front page and created little puddles in my brain.  But with every lame attempt to blot them up, more disturbing words ending in “age” came at me. 

“Age” is a common suffix, used, among other ways, to turn verbs into nouns, such as seepage.   It is also used to turn singular nouns into uncountable nouns, such as signage and plumage.  Signage and plumage are good things, and, if you were delivering news, you wouldn’t mind them in your story.  Acreage, coverage and cleavage are also nice things to have.

But all I thought about yesterday after reading about the seepage were all the other “age” words—most, oddly, beginning with “s”—that one would not want to have to use in his or her story, nor want to hear when receiving news.

Sewage isn’t something you want to hear about.  Steerage isn’t a desirable place.  If you are relying on your work or the product thereof, a stoppage is bad news, as is a shortage.  Don’t tell me about spillage, spoilage or soilage.  Slippage is unacceptable.  And absolutely no one wants to have to explain shrinkage.

Those are the “s” words.  Please don’t send me back to the beginning of the alphabet or we’ll have to talk about blockage, bondage, breakage and carnage.  So let’s not go there.

Before we move off yesterday’s front page story, let’s add “burbling” to the list of words that aren’t usually used in good news.

Note:   I first thought burbling was a portmanteau for bubble + gurgle, because isn’t that what the seepage is doing?  As it turns out, burble is also a scientific term.  It’s a turbulent eddy in fluid flow caused by roughness near the boundary surface or loss of energy in the laminar flowing fluid.  But then you all probably knew that.

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July 19, 2010 · 7:52 am

Two-fer

Once again, where have I been? 

Over the weekend I was so tickled to learn a new language term, only to find out everyone is already talking about it.

The portmanteau.  It’s been around for years, or at least as long as smog.

There are hundreds of portmanteaus (portmanteaux?) in circulation today, and the booming trend of blending two words into one continues to spread.  I just didn’t know there was a name for it until a friend sent me a Groupon (that’s another one) that used the term in a marketing promotion.

A celebrity couple can’t be mentioned as separate individuals any more, but rather, by their portmanteaus—Brangelina, Tomkat, Bennifer.  Does the First Couple go by Barelle or Michak?

A large share of the high tech vernacular is composed of portmanteaus.  WiFi, for example, as well as modem and even Internet.  Almost anything with “aholic” added on the end is a portmanteau:  chocoholic, workaholic, shopaholic.  And who can forget the Manssiere?

Can you come up with an original portmanteau or two?  Or maybe tell a story?

Billy had a dreambition of becoming a televangelist.  After school, he would go into the cafegymitorium and practice giving a sermily.

One day, in walked Isabella, looking fantabulous in her jeggings.  Billy loved how she ate Gogurt with a spork.

They began talking on their iPhones, with their conversations full of insinuendo.  They became frienefits and starting sexting in Spanglish.

When their parents found out, Billy and Isabella were forbidden to see each other.  But one day, as they were chillaxing in front of the cineplex, a photographer with the local ragazine exposed their relationship.  Billabella was busted.

Horrific, I know.  Try it?

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July 17, 2010 · 8:52 am

Never on Sunday

What’s your favorite fast food restaurant?  Okay, okay, if you had no other option but to eat on the run, what would be your choice? 

Mine is Chick fil-A.  I’ve totally bought into their Save the Cow campaign, EAT MOR CHIKIN (I won’t fault a cow for poor spelling).  But also, even though I’ve got no beef with beef, those nasty fast food burgers can pretty hard to choke down.

My husband’s a McDonald’s man, so when we’re on the road, that’s where we go.  All hail the Dollar Menu.

But when it’s my choice alone, I choose the Chick.

For better or worse, Chick-fil-A is different from the other chains in three ways that I can discern.  One, the place offers no hamburgers.  I am sure their chicken sandwiches are loaded with fat and calories and all kinds of nasty stuff, but they taste pretty good on their buttered buns after a long stretch in the car.  Two, their employees bend over backwards to be nice and helpful.  Three, they are not open, and apparently never will be, on Sundays.

They take a lot of heat for it too.  From mall owners and customers for obvious reasons, but also from a few employees and observers who criticize the staunch position held by company founder S. Truett Cathy, a devout Christian who remains firm in his position to put family and worship ahead of business.  Over the years, the company has gotten in some legal and PR hot water for some of its policies.  I just hope the company is taking these seriously and treating people fairly.

That aside, though, it is hard to fault a business owner for closing down one day a week, for whatever reason.

In a recent interview for Advertising Age magazine, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of marketing David Salyers was asked what he thought would  you think would happen first, a hamburger on the menu, or a Chick-fil-A opening on a Sunday? Salyers answered, “Definitely a hamburger on the menu.  Not even close.”

I too take Sundays off, in part as my own Sabbath observation and in part to rest, renew and be better at what I do.  I just hope my CHIKIN cravings pop up on the other six days.

See you Monday.

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July 7, 2010 · 7:53 am

Feed your pig

Many years ago, my Uncle Buddy gave me a ceramic piggy bank.  It’s pretty small, as piggy banks go, so it doesn’t take long to fill it up.  Still, it takes me about a year, as often as I remember to feed it.

I usually empty it this time of year, take the coins to one of those coin machines and get a nice little piece of cash.  It’s found money after all, so I try and spend it as frivolously as possible.

About four years ago, the accounting industry launched a public awareness campaign called “Feed the Pig.”  In partnership with the Ad Council, the accounting profession’s national association developed the campaign in an effort to encourage personal saving.  At the time of the launch, while working on a financial literacy project, I became acquainted with spokespig Benjamin Banks (get it?) and decided to start feeding my own little oinker.

Check out Feed the Pig – It’s still chock full of good information, including a Habit-Breaking Help section that addresses, among other dangers, Shoe Addiction.  Be sure to click on Benjamin’s face when you arrive, but also take some time to take the Beat Your Brain quiz.  You’ll get to know your financial self a little better.

After all this evangelizing, I am going to take a taste of my own slop and try to save more.   Charging for purchases, even shoes, doesn’t warm the heart the way saving does. 

And thanks, Uncle Buddy, wherever you are.  I just came home with $33.34  in free money.

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June 30, 2010 · 7:58 am

One less product to buy

Do we really need to go over this?

I have received suggestions from readers that I review the rule for “fewer” versus “less.”  I confess, I dismissed these because the rule is clear and I assumed most people knew the difference.  I am sorry to say I was wrong.

Last week I said I wouldn’t be taking Boniva or buying Honey Bunches of Oats for the same reason:  my boycott of products whose commercials contain grammatical errors.  Now I must add to the list MGD 64, the dieters’ version of Miller Genuine Draft.  According to its current television commercial, MGD 64 has “less calories” than other reduced-calorie beers.

I am too tired to rant again so soon over the ad industry’s growing disregard for correct language.  Instead, might I just ask, why not say “fewer calories?”   I am tempted to believe it is less an oversight than it is a presumption that “fewer” flies over the heads of Miller’s target demographic.  Please tell me I’m wrong.

Is it possible that advertising companies intentionally use poor grammar to appeal to a specific class of consumers?  The ad gurus at Grey Poupon hit their high-brow target with their famous commercial years ago.  Pardon me, but it seems Miller is deliberately going for a less sophisticated crowd with its overt illiteracy.

Everyone knows “less” refers to an amount of something, as in less beer.  “Fewer” refers to a number of something, as in “fewer calories.” 

Less snow, fewer snowflakes.  Less hair, fewer strands.  Yes, got it.

Now can we move on to something a little less obvious?

Postscript:  Speaking of intentional poor grammar, am I the only one wondering why yesterday South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham phrased his question to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, “Where were you at on Christmas Day?”  He knows better.

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June 24, 2010 · 7:50 am

Modern maturity

I have gotten used to the notion of a United States president who is younger than I am.  I sat through many Back-to-School Night presentations by 22-year-old teachers, without judging.  I am even okay with being older than Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan.

But I got a kick-in-the-gut blow as I pulled the AARP Magazine out of the mailbox and saw on the cover Valerie Bertinelli, who happens to be four months and 10 days younger than I.  By the way, she’s five days older than Elena Kagan.

AARP The Magazine comes addressed to my husband, though I am AARP-eligible.  I never had the guts to peel back the cover until yesterday—had to read about Valerie.   After all, her 1970s TV character, Barbara Cooper, and I were practically sisters.

The reason I never ventured inside the magazine?  I just knew there’d be articles about all sorts of scary aging topics, and the ads – nothing I’d need, to be sure.

I was surprised.  There’s an article on Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon and her work in promoting cancer research.  She’s 44, in case you were wondering.  A big picture of George Clooney appears just inside the front cover.  What for?  Does it really matter?  There’s a nice piece on microbreweries around the country and a funny interview with Dave Barry.  I also learned that Sean Penn, a famed member of Hollywood’s Brat Pack, will turn 50 this summer.

The writing is pretty edgy too.

The ads?  No Depends, or Metamucil or Geritol (do they even make Geritol anymore?).   It’s no surprise that there are plenty of ads for AARP products and services, including motorcycle insurance.  There’s an ad for an AARP-sponsored concert featuring Gladys Knight, B.B. King, Los Lobos, Gloria Gaynor, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Richie Havens.  There’s also an ad for Dr. Scholl’s.  I know firsthand that those feel really good on 50-year-old feet but then I also wore their exercise sandals when I was 14.

The magazine’s featured recipe is for tandoori chicken, whereas I expected any recipe offered by AARP would involve smothering something in cream of mushroom soup.

And guess what else?  A big fat crossword puzzle!

I’m thinking I might need my own subscription.

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